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Anger grows towards pro-Russian rebels as Kyiv makes new peace offer

Russian troops camped near Ukrainian border prepare to return to home bases

People wave banners a a peace rally at the FC Shakhtar Donetsk soccer stadium on May 20, 2014 in Donetsk, Ukraine. Industrialist Rinal Akhmetov, Ukraine's wealthiest man, called for peaceful demonstrations across eastern Ukraine against pro-Russian separatists controling much of the region. Photo: Photo by John Moore/Getty Images

SLAVYANSK, Ukraine — From the country’s richest man to citizens under fire, anger and dismay over Ukraine’s eastern turmoil gained strength Tuesday, but pro-Russian rebels who have declared the region independent vowed defiance.

In Kyiv, home to the central government that the separatists detest, lawmakers passed a memorandum guaranteeing the status of the Russian language and proposing government decentralization, though it offered no specifics or time frame. Russia, which long had pressed for both commitments, offered words of guarded welcome.

“If what you are saying is true, this is the development we have been speaking about for the past months,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin was quoted as telling state news agency RIA Novosti.

In Mariupol, an eastern Ukrainian city that suffered fatal clashes this month between protesters and police, workers at a steel mill stopped their labour at noon as a siren blew. They gathered for a speech from the company’s chief condemning the separatist movement known as the Donetsk People’s Republic.

An Ukrainian coal miner waits for a bus after finishing his shift at a coal mine outside Donetsk, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 20, 2014. While steel workers in Mariupol joined anti-separatist actions supported by the management of the plants, miners refused to take part in a planned protest against the Donetsk People’s Republic. AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

Ukrainian coal miners sit on a bus after finishing their shift at a coal mine outside Donetsk, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 20, 2014. While steel workers in Mariupol joined anti-separatist actions supported by the management of the plants, miners refused to take part in a planned protest against the Donetsk People’s Republic. AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

“We are here because Mariupol needs a peaceful sky above us. Tanks and guns have no place in our city,” said mill worker Sergey Kulitsh.

The plant is part of the industrial empire of Rinat Akhmetov, regarded as Ukraine’s richest man, who had called for his workers to attend noontime protests.

The tycoon vowed to challenge the insurgents who declared independence last week in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, home to 6.5 million people.

“No one will frighten us, including those calling themselves a Donetsk People’s Republic,” Akhmetov said in a statement.

Ukrainian troops stand guard next to an Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) as a flag of Ukraine floats in the background, on the road from Izyum to Slavyansk on May 20, 2014. Russia has withdrawn all its forces at least 10 kilometres from the border with Ukraine, a top Ukrainian border guard official said on May 20. GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images

Last week, his company organized steelworkers to patrol alongside police in Mariupol. The move forced insurgents to vacate government buildings they had seized in the Black Sea port.

One rebel leader in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, retaliated Tuesday by threatening to nationalize Akhmetov’s businesses over his refusal to pay taxes to the separatists.

Ukraine is holding a presidential election Sunday, which the government in Kyiv hopes will unite the country behind a new leader.

Separatists exchanged fire again Tuesday with government forces on the outskirts of Slavyansk — the epicentre of the rebellion against the government — as residents voiced their anger over the fighting.

Yekaterina Len (C), 61, is overcome with emotion after her house suffered damage following a shell explosion during the fighting between pro-Russian militants and Ukrainian army in Slavyansk, Ukraine, May 20, 2014. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

Yekaterina Len, whose house was hit by a mortar shell, burst into tears as she looked at the wreckage. The 61-year-old spent the night with neighbours.

Residents complained that rebels’ gunfire at government troops was drawing retaliatory fire and endangering their homes.

“They must stop with this banditry so that there can be peace!” said resident Lina Sidorenko. “How much longer can this go on? We had a united country and now look what’s happened.”

Yekaterina Len (C), 61, is overcome with emotion after her house suffered damage following shell explosions during the fighting between pro-Russian militants and the Ukrainian army in Slavyansk, Ukraine, 20 May 2014. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

Vyacheslav Ponomarev, the separatist leader in Slavyansk, heard an earful Tuesday as he met about 200 residents, who shouted at him to end hostilities.

Wearing a pistol on his belt and flanked by a bodyguard toting a Kalashnikov rifle, Ponomarev yelled back, saying he would pay compensation to repair damaged houses.

“Please, I implore you, do not panic!” he shouted. “If you do, you are playing into the hands of our enemies.”

Vyacheslav Ponomarev, left, the self-proclaimed mayor of Slavyansk speaks to local citizens whose homes were ruined in a shelling in Slavyansk, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 20, 2014. AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

Russia’s Defence Ministry, meanwhile, said army units were dismantling camps along the Ukraine border. Such withdrawal activity, if confirmed, would ease fears that the Kremlin was positioned to invade eastern Ukraine and seize the country’s industrial heartland.

But NATO, which estimates that Russia has 40,000 troops along the border, said it had no evidence of a Russian withdrawal. NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu challenged the Russians “to prove that they are doing, what they are saying.”

Women take part in the antiwar rally in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk on May 20, 2014. VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty Images

Local residents look at flame from a damaged gas pipe after an impact of a mortar bomb, during fighting between Ukrainian government troops against pro-Russian militants, outside Slavyansk, eastern Ukraine, early Monday, May 19, 2014. AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko